Woolworths afraid of #BoycottWoolworths campaign, resorts to violence and force

28 October 2014

The Young Communist League of South Africa (uFasimba) is disgusted at the arrest of more than 60 #BoycottWoolworths activists, including children, on the orders of Woolworths at the weekend.

The activists were all released without charge, proving the ridiculousness of the arrest. Woolworths despite being a multi-national company is too afraid to negotiate with concerned consumers, trade unions, political parties and activists. Instead, realising it`s losing the battle morally, the retailer resorts to using force and violence on peaceful campaigners.

The arrested activists, who included YCLSA members, staged a "die-in" flashmob at the Woolworths store in Killarney Mall in Johannesburg on Sunday 25th October 2014. They lay on the floor with placards asking the retailer who claims to be an ethical company to cut ties with Israel. They were arrested only after they had exited the store and were already in their modes of transport.

The total boycott of Woolworths was called for by the National Coalition 4 Palestine on the 4th August 2014 and is supported by the YCLSA, the South African Communist Party [SACP], Cosatu and hundreds of thousands of other justice loving people in the country and around the world. Woolworths refuses to end its R12 million annual million trade with apartheid Israel, despite its claims to be an ethical and responsible retailer.

Woolworths must remember that the daily freedoms, some take for granted in South Africa, were gained, in part, by the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who marched, demonstrated and risked arrest to isolate apartheid South Africa internationally.

We will continue to do the same for Palestinians living under the brutal apartheid Israel regime. Woolworths scare tactics such as bouncers and the police to try deter us will not stop our quest for justice. We will intensify the #BoycottWoolworths campaign until Woolworths ends ties with apartheid Israel.